Thelema Mountain Wine Glendale AZ

This page provides useful content and local businesses that can help with your search for Thelema Mountain Wine. You will find helpful, informative articles about Thelema Mountain Wine, including "Thelema: Consistent Quality from Mountain Vineyards". You will also find local businesses that provide the products or services that you are looking for. Please scroll down to find the local resources in Glendale, AZ that will answer all of your questions about Thelema Mountain Wine.

Thelema: Consistent Quality from Mountain Vineyards

Provided By:

Thelema Mountain Vineyards is famous for rich Cabernet Sauvignon with a distinctive mint note. Thomas Webb recently arranged a vertical tasting of Cabernet for us at the vineyard with winemaker Rudi Schultz, who shares winemaking duties with proprietor and cellarmaster Gyles Webb, who gained experience making wine at Heitz in California in the 1980s before starting his own winery. Thelema is a 157 ha family estate just 6 km from Stellenbosch on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain. With mostly south-facing vineyards at altitudes ranging from 370 to 640 m, it is one of the coolest and highest altitude growing sites in the Stellenbosch region. It is a beautiful place, both for growing grapes and for admiring the stunning views of the Drakenstein and Jonekershoek mountains. In 2000, Thelema added the cool-climate Sutherland estate located in Elgin to its properties. The U.S. importer is Cape Classics of New York.

Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cabernet is what Thelema does best, and despite the arrival in recent years of several high-priced, flashy competitors, Thelema Cabernet it still the benchmark for South Africa. We tasted three vintages—2007, 2001, and 1997—at the winery, but over the years we’ve tasted many other vintages. Irrespective of vintage and age, there is a consistent house style that is very attractive—stylish and sleek with firm, ripe tannins and great balance with rich cassis, cocoa, and, of course, notes of mint. The mint comes from the eucalyptus oil that blows onto the vines from the row of trees visible at the back of the vineyard. Beginning in 2004 Thelema began bottling Cabernet from the eucalyptus-affected block separately. Both the regular and “mint” bottlings are firmly tannic, and, as our tasting shows, the wines can easily age for well over a decade.

Thelema 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Stellenbosch ($41) 91+

One expects richness and complexity from a Thelema Cabernet, and the just-released 2007 vintage doesn’t disappoint. Dark ruby in color, cedar fruit, cassis and dark plum show on the nose. There’s beautiful purity of fruit on the palate with chalky, ripe tannins and a lovely long finish with dark chocolate notes. The grapes are destalked, hand-sorted, and the wines spends 18 months in 40% new oak. A superb wine!

Thelema 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon The Mint Stellenbosch ($41) 91+

From a vineyard plated in 1985 with a border of eucalyptus trees that lends an attractive eucalpytus oil/mint note to the wine. There’s dark fruit, chocolate, cedar, and mint herbs on the nose and roundly textured palate. Spends 18 months in French oak, 40% new, and it’s beautifully integrated. Very attractive and perfect for lamb!

Thelema 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Stellenbosch

This is a dark garnet ruby wine from a good, even vintage. It shows earthy complexity, cedar and plum fruit on the nose and a lush palate of rich black and red fruit. Ready to drink now, but th...

Looks like Arizona code, 4-244 Section 31 allows a partially consumed bottle of wine purchased in conjunction with a meal from a licensed premises to be removed if the cork is reinserted flush with the top of the bottle. (see note 2)